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Measures eyed to halt overfishing of Pacific bigeye, yellowfin tuna
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Posted on Nov 12 2005
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council on Friday addressed the management of pelagic fisheries, i.e., tuna, billfish and other open-water species.
Among the key pelagic fisheries decisions made by the Council are:
Overfishing of bigeye and potential overfishing of yellowfin tuna in the Western and Central Pacific: The Council will ask the U.S. Delegation to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to consider appropriate reductions in total pelagic fishing effort by international fisheries or a redirection of purse-seine effort from fish aggregating devices (FADs) of free swimming tuna schools. Projections suggest that these changes would lead to recovery of both stocks in a five to 10-year period.
Expansion of short longline fishing (i.e., use of lines less than 1 nautical mile in length) to catch tuna and monchong in Hawaii and sharks in Guam: Council staff will begin developing an amendment to the Pelagics Fishery Management Plan for the Western Pacific Region to regulate shortline (including handline) fishing in federal waters surrounding the U.S. Pacific islands.
Ecosystem approach to management: Council staff will organize a workshop with countries bordering American Samoa to address issues of mutual concern, such as longline fisheries for albacore.
Management of the Hawaii-based, shallow-set longline fishery for swordfish: The Council will not recommend changes to the current cap on the number of sets for the swordfish fishery segment of the Hawaii longline fishery.
The Council is responsible for fisheries in federal waters (generally 3-200 miles offshore) surrounding Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and several U.S. small remote island areas. It has been meeting at the Hilton Guam Hotel, Tumon Bay, Guam, since Nov. 8, 2005.
The Council concluded its four-day meeting on Guam yesterday. For more information, go to www.wpcouncil.org.
